PAL

Hello again!

This post is going to be all about...

"PAL"

...which stands for Peer Assisted Learning which is something that I have timetabled in on a weekly basis.

PAL leaders are second or third years who have given up their time to help first years. We are all broken down into groups of about 20 again like seminars and meet up with our PAL leaders each week for an hour.
We are asked what we would like to cover before we leave after each week and we will go over whatever is agreed in the next session.

PAL is a really beneficial system as it allows us first years to get a real insight into how our degree is going to go as we are talking to people who have already done it. They are there to give us advice on absolutely anything we need as long as they know the answer.

For example in my PAL session this week we went over referencing which was a great help for me, they showed us websites to help with referencing in the correct format and they also showed us a few different places that we could find references for our essays.

In terms of benefits for the leaders themselves it is volunteer work which is a great attraction on  CV and therefore will hopefully give them more of a chance of being looked at when going into the working world after completing their course and graduating.

I am really benefiting from these sessions and find them a breath of fresh air knowing that I'm not the only one feeling the way I do and everyone else is in the exact same boat as I am. It is a great way for us students to offload about anything we may or may not be worried about and also helps us with our studies.

I am going to really consider taking on the responsibility of being a PAL leader next year as I know how much it helped me and  I would love to be able to do that for a newbie like I am this year.I like the idea of being able to help new students which is partly what this blog is all about, I would love to know I have given a new starter a helping hand because I was extremely grateful for my PAL leaders especially when they gave me vital information that I would never have been able to achieve the way I have without.

Those who never attended a session really missed out in my opinion, they were really helpful for me and several others I know.

Who knows I could be your PAL leader next year!